Perodicticus

Perodicticus, the pottos, is a genus of strepsirrhine primates in the family Lorisidae, with three species recognized by the IUCN Red List and the American Society of Mammalogists. Known in parts of English-speaking Africa as softly-softlys, the genus name derives from Greek for maimed pointer, referring to a vestigial index finger, though the thumbs remain opposable; pottos measure 30 to 39 centimeters in body length with short tails of 3 to 10 centimeters, grey brown woolly fur, and neck tubercles over elongated vertebrae used defensively. Found across tropical Africa from Nigeria and Guinea to Kenya and Uganda and into the northern Democratic Republic of Congo, pottos are strictly nocturnal and arboreal, sleeping by day in the leaves and rarely descending from the trees.